Pakistan bar leader says lawyers resuming protests if ousted judges not restored

Pakistani lawyers will resume protests in Islamabad unless the superior court judges ousted in November 2007 by President Pervez Musharraf are reinstated, Pakistani Supreme Court Bar Association President Aitzaz Ahsan said Wednesday. Ahsan, originally detained in a security sweep after Musharraf's November 3 proclamation of emergency and put under house arrest again earlier this month after trying to visit the grave of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, told reporters that the defeat of Musharraf's Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) in Tuesday's parliamentary elections could persuade Musharraf to resign. Ahsan also warned that if the ousted judges were not restored by the March 9 anniversary of Musharraf's initial suspension of now-dismissed Pakistani Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, lawyers would go back into the streets.

Pakistan bar leader says lawyers resuming protests if ousted judges not restored jurist.law.pitt.edu Thu, Feb 21, 2008